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GH4 4K Panasonic video camera, official topic
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  • I wish for a smaller audio interface attachment, just a battery grip with audio interface, this will make the a more portable system, and more realist to my kind of work, here in Venezuela will let see 4K like in 3 years ;) and then the GH5 will be on the street, so? the 4K is not a must for me right now, i already have a GH3 but cannot give me the 4:2:2 10Bit output, (great for green screen works), and the GH4K can give me that using a Atomos Ninja, but then i need a Panasonic YAGH to record good audio, this unit is big and don't record video so to use another piece of equipment is just dumb. Kudos for Panasonic to create something like this a reasonable price.

  • @blackspot

    Hey btw... If there is so many media representatives got GH4 on their hands then where is all the preview 4K footage?

    I have done a lot of presentations to media reps (though it was 3D software, not camera hardware) - the reps got to play with the software, ask questions, etc. In most cases, they didn't get to take rendered files with them.

    And in cases where they got a full-blown trial over time, they were under NDA anyway. Further, their main priority in life was their own work, not sharing all the test files they'd made the past few weeks once the product was released. Besides, it's barely day 3 since the official announcement.

  • The flamingo aerial shot is quite wOw

    @inqb8tr dude they forgot most important features, again! :P

  • @maxr hummm...

    Temple has a lot of moire on the stairs. Very huge moire. Something I would avoid on an official launch video.

  • @LongJohnSilver from a very casual watching (left my white robe at the sanatorium :P) the shot at 1'02'' looked pretty nice, beautifully rich constrasty colours within a smoothy slomy, that's all. Till footage at 4K with very HQ compression, or not compressed at all, is released I feel like there's no point in peeping, even for downscaling purposes, as you have no "original" to compare. Guess Mr. @Drifwood is working his way to it.
    Hey could use some of that slipslop you patched guys drink =)

  • I agree but I see around a lot of videos just perfect. Panasonic have always a bad taste/choice with his launch video. Do you remember the GH3 French video?

  • I downloaded the source 4K video to watch it without buffering from my computer, fuck YouTube throttling......downscaled to my 1080p monitor...looks great.

    When I preview the footage in original resolution, it's not as "painfully sharp"...but 4K on 1080p looks pretty knifey :D I guess downscaling the 4K video in post to 1080p yields the same results.

    Any words on postproduction of that promo video? If that's a straight out of the camera footage, then lord half mercy.

  • Does anyone know if it will shoot log?

  • I have a question for this forum: Is the breakout A/V box (brick) necessary for 4:2:2 10bit HD/4K, or can this be extracted via the mini HDMI port on the GH4? I wanna say the HDMI spec wont allow anything over 8-bit and the A/V interface is necessary for anything 10bit, but I'm not positive. Thanks in advance.

  • I think the future is 10-12bit recording in camera and competitive price. No need for adapters.

  • @itimjim I believe it shoots cinema "like" logs based on earlier Panasonic pro cams. I know that doesn't sound too promising but people who've used them in the past swear by them saying they generate a credible flat profile and give you enough flexibility in post.

  • Is the breakout A/V box (brick) necessary for 4:2:2 10bit HD/4K, or can this be extracted via the mini HDMI port on the GH4?

    Nope, as I know. If you look at the box it has HDMI connector on the side, so it looks mostly as simple converter.

    I wanna say the HDMI spec wont allow anything over 8-bit

    It is not true. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#Version_1.4 Thing is called Deep Color.

  • @Riker: The "Light of the Yucatan" promo video is encoded with ~ 18.6 MBit/s on youtube (for format code 138). That is - quite obviously when replayed in 1:1 pixel view - not enough to avoid exposing serious compression artefacts. Hell, this is less than what ordinary 1080p BluRay disks use. But what else to expect from Youtube?

    We will never know if the original files contained the visible compression artefacts as well, without a raw video file straight from the GH4, very little can be said about its actual quality at all.

  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev thank you for the explanation. Unless the XLR/quad SLI setup is needed, going directly from the mini HDMI port on the GH4 to something like an Atomos or Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q may be the way to go for acquiring 10bit 4:2:2 in both 1080P and 4K. This shouldn't make it too cumbersome with the hot shoe attachment on the top of the camera.

  • will we be able to record the variable mode (96fps to 24fps) out to atomos in 4222 10bit?

  • @killagram That's great news.. because I thought it was 1080p 10Bit 422 only now the HDMI spits out 4K 10Bit 422 there won't be a use for the break-out box for my use, unless it's priced right. Got a question you think the new Atomos Blade trully spits-out 10bit 422, or upscales 8bit to 10bit that's what I've heard in the past but not sure.

  • @sammy Don't think so, you would be able to view it only in camera playback.

  • Some of the comments here remind me of those on Nikon forums when the D3 was announced ... and there were horrified people that it was ONLY a 12 megapixel camera. Obviously it was an over-priced useless piece of junk before it was released ... what COULD Nikon have been thinking? Who in the world would ever pay $6000 for an only 12mp camera? Absurd!

    But those weren't any other camera's 12 megapixels ... the images were awesome past 3200 ISO (astounding then at that quality) and kept hue purity clear to 3200. I've shot several available-light portrait sessions with it over the years at 3200 ... and gone to 30" prints from it, beautiful things. 50" prints at lower ISO's. Remember, I used 6x7cm roll-film for 20+ years, I do expect a lot from a print.

    So ... yea, some of the GH4 specs aren't exactly what all of us would prefer ... but darn it if I don't think I'd be able to shoot some good and very usable footage with this cam as spec'd. If the mechanical/internal software hold up to hopes, it's going to be a useful tool. And a big step up from the GH3 and other similar cams.

    Now ... to start getting enough more paid gigs of video to justify sometime this year not only getting the cam but the brick too ... and the out-board recorder and all ... might be a spendy year ... sigh ... :)

  • Question for everybody reading this post is the new Atomos Blade trully a 10Bit 422 external recorder? will you get true 10bit out of it? or should I just invest on the Odyssey 7Q?

  • @TrackZillas I'm not sure on Atomos Blade specs, but it'd be a shame if it couldn't handle 10Bit. From what I've read on the forums about the Odyssey 7Q is that it's an all-in-one beast (reference monitor for both A/V, SSD recorder, multiple signal processor, etc) but it's also fairly new, so CD is slowly releasing updates to increase it's usefulness in the field. Also keep in mind that the SSD's have to be from Convergent Design (to keep up with the bandwidth requirements) as well as the user having to pay separately for codecs. It's not cheap when you add it all up, but it's probably the most compact and practical.

  • @TrackZillas i thought all of atomos field recorders did true 10 bit 422 to ProRes / DNxHD , none of them however record more than 1080p as far as i'm aware...

  • @LongJohnSilver I find the artifacts unsettling in the Temple and on the wings of the parrot, just have to wait and see how bad they are, but they didn't appear from nowhere.

  • It seems to have as much Moire/aliasing as the GH3 which isn't a complete deal breaker but is no GH2 regarding that aspect.

    The specs do mention the EX Tele which means that mode will be moire, aliasing free for nature uses.

    If a hack is ever possible, the three things on my wishlist would be:

    -200mbit for 4k

    -120p 1080p and 720p 240

    -ISO on video recording above 6400

    Not holding my breath of course considering the technical problems that might arise.

  • From what I'm gleaning from the specs posted so far, it's just 8 bit 4:2:0 to an SD card, but you have to use HDMI or the optional A/V brick to get 10 bit 4:2:2. If you select 10 bit output it seems from the "gotchas" in the released specs. like it won't record to the card at all, it just sends video out via HDMI and the SDI outs on the brick.

    Another question I have is whether the time code generated is within professional SMPTE parameters so you could master/slave genlock a SMPTE time code audio recorder to the GH4. I don't want to be forced into buying their optional monstrosity in order to sync audio. Besides, it's only 16 bit PCM and God knows how noisy the GH4's audio pre-amps will be.

  • Is it common for other cameras to record 10bit 4:2:2 to internal SD cards?